Baracoa

This is a painting I bought almost three years ago traveling one summer through Cuba. It comes from a fantastic sleepy little town forgotten by time in the far Eastern side of the island. Like an outpost of the imagination sandwiched between green forested hills and cacao farms running off into the blue waves of the Caribbean lashing the crumbling malecon sea walls. A huge anvil shaped mountain rises behind the town, el yunque, and on clear days one can even see Haiti in the distance.

The town is full of all sorts of eclectic interesting characters, including many amazing artists and painters, like the one I bought this painting from. Some people have likened it to something out of a novel, partly true and partly romanticized image for Cuba's fledgling tourism at that time. To be honest I have no idea what it is like now, but I look very fondly back on that place every time I see this painting. It reminds me of Cuba and the tropics, of my friend Jennifer I met there and the scent of frangipani flowers and salt spray, the heat of July in the Caribbean. It is hanging now in my parent's house. On loan until that day I unpack all the boxes and decorate my own place. It will be gorgeous with all the art and amazing things I have collected. One day...